RMIAN Condemns Contract for New Colorado Immigration Detention Center
MEDIA INQUIRIES
Contacts:
Jodi Vongsakoun, development@rmian.org, RMIAN Director of Development & Communications
Mekela Goehring, mgoehring@rmian.org, RMIAN Executive Director
Westminster, Colorado, July 13, 2026—Today GEO Group announced that they have signed a five-year contract for $529 million with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to open a new immigration detention center in Hudson, Colorado, just north of Denver International Airport.
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) adamantly opposes and condemns the opening of this immigration detention facility, or any other immigration detention facility in Colorado.
“For over 25 years, RMIAN has worked at the Aurora immigration detention center, providing free legal information, legal representation, and social services to detained individuals in immigration proceedings. Our clients include long-standing and treasured community members, beloved family members, asylum seekers, survivors of trafficking and other crimes, young adults, and elders—all of whom have been imprisoned solely because of a civil immigration infraction. The impact of detention is far-reaching and devastating. We denounce this profit-motivated contract that will deeply harm immigrant communities in Colorado and our state as a whole,” states Mekela Goehring, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network.
The GEO Group currently imprisons up to 1,532 individuals every day at its Aurora detention center. This new contract would allow the Big Horn Contract Detention Center, also to be run by the GEO Group, to imprison up to 1,188 additional community members in Hudson. The devastating impact of this increased detention for Coloradans cannot be overstated.
“Individuals in immigration detention are separated from their loved ones and torn from their communities. They are forced to navigate imprisonment and a complex legal process, usually without representation. They also endure substandard medical care leading to medical crises or even death. Immigration detention creates exponential suffering and harm, not just for the individual who is detained, but also for the loved ones who are impacted by the cascading impacts of this incarceration,” says Monique Sherman RMIAN Detention Program Managing Attorney.
